Disclaimer: Any of the characters you recognize from the Twilight series belong to Stephanie Meyer. Any other characters belong to the talented author, yay4shanghai. Her stories are my favorites and you can find her in my favorite authors list on my profile. There are also five other amazing authors doing spin off in yay4shanghai universe; liljenrocks, ari11990, AsagariMelody, Guzhong, and twihardcaligurl, dll10, twilightheart21.

A/N: Thank you everyone so much for the reviews, sorry for the wait!

Ava's POV

"People come, people go – they'll drift in and out of your life, almost like characters in a favorite book. When you finally close the cover, the characters have told their story and you start up again with another book, complete with new characters and adventures. Then you find yourself focusing on the new ones, not the ones from the past." -Nicholas Sparks

October 10th 2045

Are you coming today?

The text was clear as day as the annoying beeping of its arrival woke me up from my much needed peaceful sleep. Last night had been a long and tiring, yet fun night. At work we'd worked a huge birthday party last night for an extremely spoiled sixteen year old from Port Angeles.

The party was extravagant, larger and appearing to have more preparation than my mother's own wedding. It was exciting to help host such a huge party, but my feet were hurting by the end of the night to say the least. With cleaning up, we weren't done until around 11:30 and after that, I'd gone out to eat with Kara and the guys, causing my arrival home to be around 12:30. My mom didn't mind much, she trusted me, though I was sure she wouldn't allow me to walk in the house at two or three in the morning, I knew she liked the fact I was getting out more.

It was impossible for anyone; expect maybe Eli, not to notice the amount of distance that had been placed between us. In the last month we'd drifted more than I thought we ever would, but I didn't have the heart to confront Eli about it. During the small time we did spend together, he seemed so happy; happier than I ever remembering him being, and if Caylee had this effect on him, what kind of best friend would I be to complain? Distanced or not, today was his birthday and although fourteen wasn't necessarily a mile stone in life, I would definitely be in attendance.

Of course! I replied. I stretched before jumping out of bed and running over to my overly filled closet. There were dresses, jeans, skirts, tops, and shoes hanging out at all different directions. I searched for my newest dress that my Nona had recently sent me in the mail. It was a brown plaid tube dress with a dark belt twisted in the shape of a bow in the middle. I'd had it for months, waiting for a good day to wear it.

I stumbled out of my room and down the stairs into the kitchen where Chloe was sitting. Her hair was a mess of spiral curls settled onto the top of her head. She had miraculously stayed home last night, the first Friday night she's stayed home in month.

"Who dropped you off last night?" Chloe asked, dragging her eyes off the screen of her laptop to look at me.

"Josh and Kara," I replied while grabbing a coffee cup out of the cupboard. She'd made our favorite cinnamon coffee and I poured myself some before sitting down at the table with her.

"He's cute, do you like him?" she asked excitedly, her blue eyes sparkling like they always did when she was happy.

"No, we're just friends," I said, but truthfully, I was beginning to have these feeling in the pit of my stomach that I wasn't sure came just from the product of our friendship. Minuscule feelings that made me wish he'd grab my hand at times and unintentionally smile when he sat down next to me.

I wasn't experienced when it came to this stuff, so I didn't know what to make out of these feelings. I'd previously thought that the only reason I felt that way was because of all the couples I was around. Living in La Push with my family being a pack of wolves, literally, I see more love and affection everyday than some people see in their entire life. It was natural to want to be a part of that, right? Even if what I was feeling was the beginning of true feelings, a relationship between me and Josh was simply out of the question for many reasons.

Number one, our lifestyles would clash more than it would go together. I had work, ballet, and school, which all three were very time consuming. I had dance every Monday and Wednesday and then spent my other days studying or working. I had always made time for Eli and now that that spot was open, could I give that time to Josh? It would feel wrong though to hang out with someone else in the time that had always been reserved for Eli.

Josh was seventeen, a junior in high school while I was not yet fifteen and just a freshman. Age wasn't a huge deal and I was very mature for my age but there was just something so prominently different about someone my age and someone Chloe's.

"You're lying, but it's cool," Chloe said dismissively while forcefully pressing the keys on the keyboard.

"Who are you talking to?" I asked to change the subject. She slide the laptop so that the screen would be facing me. A tanned and green eyed male that reminded me somewhat of Freddie took over the screen. There was a small instant message conversation in the corner which explained who she was talking to.

"Ain't he cute? I did a photo shoot with him last week, his name is Sebastian," she said wiggling her eyebrows in a way that suggested that his name meant something much more.

"Sebastian is the crab from Ariel!" Hope yelled excitedly as she walked down the stairs with Harrison, who was still in his Scooby Doo pajamas. It was nearly 10:30 and I cringed at what my parents' could have possibly been doing all night that would leave them in bed this late.

"Sissy, I'm hungry," Harrison said rubbing his stomach dramatically and placing his big green pleadingly eyes on me.

I smiled before ruffling his hair gently, "What do you want to eat, Baby?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes, please," Harrison said with a big baby toothed smile.

With Chloe's help, we made a lot more of a mess than actually food.

By the time I'd placed two pancakes on Hope and Harrison's dishes, the kitchen was covered in flour and splattered batter. I had two hand prints of flour on my butt thanks to Harrison. It was eleven now and I was seriously beginning to wonder if my parents were alive. After a few minutes, I heard Phil's loud footsteps coming down the stairs. His hair was disheveled and he was wearing cut off sweat pants and a white tee shirt.

"Daddy, Ava and Chloe cooked, but there is none left for you," Harrison said quickly.

"I see that," Phil said as he looked between all four us, Chloe and I almost covered completely in flour. He shook his head and chuckled, picking up Harrison.

"Did you kill Mom?" Chloe asked with playful accusation in her eyes, but Harrison didn't hear the teasing in her words.

"Momma is dead!?" he shrieked and squirmed in Phil's arms before my mom strolled into the kitchen, "you're alive," he exclaimed happily as he reached over for my mom to grab him.

"Of course I'm alive," she said with a smile and then glanced at the clock, "Wow, it's late," she said more to herself than anyone else.

"We have to be at Eli's at three," I reminded her and she nodded.

"Oh good, I'm glad you still want to go," my mom said and her reply left me with an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Was I expected not to go and just act like we didn't know each other anymore because he'd found someone better to spend most of his time with? I knew that that wasn't what she meant, but anything said about me and Eli's drifting made me feel insecure.

Maybe that's what Jordan thought too, I'd know noticed he something different because he had scribbled something in his notebook the last time I was around.

It probably went something like this: My sweet niece/family friend, Ava is kind but so naïve. She doesn't understand that since Eli has found new people to hang out with, she should too.

Okay, Jordan would never say that, I was just going crazy.

*~*

It wasn't necessarily a birthday party; Eli had stopped having those after his tenth birthday, it was just a few member of the family and a lot food plus birthday cake. I hadn't seen Eli since the beginning of this week and I was hoping that today would set some normalcy back into our friendship.

I grabbed Eli's present, which was a mess of red wrapping paper and tape. Hope had been determined to "help" me wrap his gift, which was a new book by one of his favorite authors and a blue and black stripped hoodie. Eli is easily the hardest person to shop for because of two reasons. Number one, he doesn't spend his days in front of the T.V. so movies and video games were eliminated for a gift option. Secondly, he never expresses any to desire to want anything more than what he already has.

The sky was overcast in gray, the sun appearing to be nonexistent for today. The light rain barely made any noise as it connected with the roof. This was the typical weather for La Push, but it was home. I wondered what the weather was like now in my birth state of Florida. Although the consentient warmth and sunshine of the south was appealing, Miami just could never feel home to me like La Push did. The people I'd been blessed to call family made up for the weather entirely.

"We're leaving now," Hope yelled from the bottom of the stairs

Chloe was sitting on my bed with her legs crossed, playing with her naturally wavy hair which was now grown past her chest as she stared at the wall. She'd been ready for at least twenty minutes because she had rushed to get ready so she could force me to let her do my makeup. It was her new thing and in the last month that she had became fascinated makeup she used any occasion to experiment, I was her latest victim.

I wasn't really a victim because even though I disliked the weight of makeup, it did look really pretty. My eyelids were dusted with a dark shimmery eye shadow that matched my dress with a thin straight line of liquid eye liner.

Chloe followed me down the stairs where Hope was impatiently tapping her foot.

"You take forever," she exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sorry Hope," Chloe apologized with a soft laugh as the three of us went out to the car where my mom, Phil, and Harrison were waiting.

When we got to the Uley-Varn cabin, Quil and Claire's car was already parked in the driveway. I was sure Addison and Harley were here but I wondered if Maddie was. I'd seen her less and less over the years.

I picked up Harrison from his car seat and started to walk towards the door. I rang the door bell just as Chloe, Phil, Hope, and my Mom made it onto the small porch. Hazel opened the door, looking adorable as ever in a pair of dark glittery blue jeans and blue top with a heart made out of blue sequins in the middle. She smiled a big half missing tooth smiling before squealing in delight.

"I miss you Ava, why don't you come over anymore?" Hazel asked and I froze, unsure how to answer her question.

"I-I don't know, I'm sorry," I replied, stuttering on my answer as I stepped into the house.

My eyes scanned the room quickly to see who was here, but my eyes caught something I wished they hadn't. It was quick, so quick I couldn't understand why my eyes had caught it at all. I watched as Eli who was sitting on the couch leaned in and kissed Caylee on the lips.

I'd been friends with Eli since I was a toddler and I knew he most definitely did not kiss girl's he was just friends with me. An array of emotions flooded my body and I had to fight the urge to ball up my fist and storm out of the house. I couldn't understand why I was mad, I never got mad.

Eli's eyes made contact with mine and he walked over to me, leaving Caylee

'Happy birthday' I signed and pushed the present into his hands

'Thank you' he signed with a smile before pulling me into a hug that turned my world upside down.

Something happened when we hugged and it hit me like a stack of bricks being thrown at my face. There was this feeling that I'd never felt before, not Eli, not with anyone actually. It was a connection like the ones you hear about in movies and book but didn't think existed outside of that. It was feeling I wanted to last forever, I never wanted to change from this position, but I knew I had to. His was girlfriend was sitting on the couch and a good majority of my family was nearby and I wanted to keep this one sided connection I had just felt to myself. I loved my family, so much it was impossible to express, but telling one of them was as equal as telling all of them. I pulled away while trying to wipe the terror off my face from seeing Eli in this new unusual light.

'You didn't have to buy me anything' he signed and I shook my head.

'No, because now you have to buy me something next month' I signed teasingly but avoided eye contact with him because I feared he would be able to tell there was something off in my expression.

Caylee bounced her way over to us with such a large smile plastered onto her face it was impossible for me to be mad. She didn't know how I felt because I hadn't known until a moment ago how I really felt. I was jealous of her, yes, and angry at the fact that Eli and I had drifted so much since she came around, but that didn't have anything to do with her as a person.

'It's nice to see you again' she signed happily before hugging me. I hugged her back, trying not to be as stiff as I felt.

'You too' I signed shortly but then added a smile at the end.

'Your family is amazing' she signed and I tried to pay attention to her words but I was far too busy evaluating the differences between me and her.

Her blonde hair and big blue eyes contrasted with my light brunette hair and doe shaped emerald eyes. She was pretty, prettier than me, but I wouldn't let myself dwell on that. She seemed nice but I was far from mean. The only other reason I could think of was that Caylee could understand Eli in a way I could not because she was deaf and I was not. I'd always tried to understand though.

"Ava, can you come over here?" Chloe yelled into the living room with Harley standing directly behind her.

'I'll be right back' I signed and Eli and Caylee nodded in sync, causing a thick feeling in my throat.

As soon as I was close enough to them, Chloe grabbed my arm and forcefully dragged me down the hallway that led to Hazel's bedroom.

"Is that his girlfriend?" Harley whispered although it sounded more like a hiss.

"I think so," I replied and I was actually surprised on how much my own words stung.

This was disastrous. This was the day I denied would ever happen since I was three years old; I was falling for Eli. To an outside it may have sounded romantic, childhood friends falling in love, but there was nothing romantic about one sided feelings. I wanted to scream and yell because I'd never asked for this.

My life plan was just always to remain best friends with Eli, I had never planned to throw romantic interest into the mix, but like always, life had a different plan for me. It wouldn't have been so bad if he didn't have a girlfriend.

"Are you okay? You've look like you just seen a ghost," Chloe commented and even though I hadn't planned on sharing my newly found feelings with anyone else, I couldn't hold it inside anymore.

"No," I answered in a shaky voice and Chloe and Harley looked at me sympathetically.

"You like him," Harley asked and it wasn't much of a question. Her dark eyes held a look of knowing as they gazed into mine.

I nodded, afraid for anyone to overhear this conversation, "Please don't say anything," I begged and Chloe and Harley scoffed. '

"Why would we tell anyone?" Chloe asked and I shrugged, "Just stay with us, don't make yourself feel awkward."

I couldn't tell you what conversations I had in the two hours that I was there. I couldn't tell you what I ate or what presents Eli got from other people. The whole day was a daze as if I was watching everyone in fast motion but didn't have the ability to get involved. I couldn't tell you who was all there by the time we left, but I could tell you that every stolen glance I got of Eli and Caylee kissing stabbed my heart with an intensity I couldn't forget.

When we pulled onto our street, my phone burst into a melodic tune, and by the song, I knew it was a message from Kara.

Wanna go to Bryan's tonight? Josh is going ( ;

I smiled at the text because the last thing I wanted to do tonight was sit in the house and think of how much a disaster my life was soon going to be.

Sure, what time? I texted back and unbuckled Harrison out of his car seat as soon as we pulled into the driveway. I carried him into the house and placed him on the ground just as Kara texted back.

Be at your house in ten minutes.

I ran upstairs and changed out of my dress, putting on a simple blue v-neck shirt and a pair of light faded jeans. I brushed over my hair once and applied some vanilla lip gloss before I heard the loud sound of Kara's car horn. I rushed down the stairs, grabbing my purse and shoes on the way.

"I'm leaving, Mom!" I yelled while slipping on the shoes I'd picked up on the way down the stairs.

"With who?" she asked as she appeared from the kitchen with Hope behind her.

"Kara, I'll call you. I love you," I said with a wave before I disappeared out the door and into the rain.

Kara was blasting music and there was a smile on her beautiful pale face when I got into the car. Her red wavy hair was pulled into a side ponytail and she was happily tapping her fingers on her steering wheel to the beat of the song.

"Something happened today," I told her over the blaring music because I needed to talk to someone that wasn't a part of my family.

"And?" she asked interested, lowering the music.

"My friend, my best friend, Eli has a girlfriend and I think-I think I care about him more than a friend," I replied and the words being said out loud felt so weird but then at the same time so right. It made sense; I missed him so much because I wanted him in an entirely new way.

"And you can't say anything because that will just be awkward because he doesn't feel the same?" Kara asked while hitting the nail directly on the head and I nodded, "Listen to me when I say this because it's the best advice for you. Everything will work out if it's meant to, but don't stop your life for him," Kara finished and I found the truth in her words.

"How do I hang out with him? How do I make things normal?" I asked desperately, I wanted step by step instructions on how to live life with this drastic change.

"Take a break from seeing him; you guys don't seem to be hanging out a lot anyways. It will be okay, it won't be awkward forever," she promised, but I didn't believe. Eli was insightful, he'd catch onto the fact that something was wrong eventually, and, oh God, Jordan was like a mind reader, I couldn't step foot near that cabin.

We were in Port Angeles within 30 minutes, Kara driving with a Solace style. We pulled into an apartment building, which I learned both Josh and Bryan lived in. It had stopped raining, the sky cast in a gloomy shades of grey. Kara clicked a number on the intercom before a voice I cleared recognized as Bryan's came through the speaker.

"Who's there?" he asked dumbly because I knew he knew we were coming.

"Kara and Ava, now let us in!" she yelled and I laughed at her dramatic tone.

"You can't come in Kara, only Ava is allowed," Bryan said teasingly and Kara stomped her foot.

"Oh really? Well then I'll just take Ava with me and we'll go hang out with are other friends," she spoke into the intercom and I laughed as I heard Bryan mutter something inaudible.

"You have no other friends," A new voice said, the voice I recognized as Josh's. There was a loud buzzing noise before the door opened and Kara and I ran up the stairs quickly.

She knew what room is was and we walked in without knocking.

"We have friends, Josh," Kara said dragging out Josh's name teasingly as she plopped down on the couch.

"Maybe Ava does, but not you," Josh joked and Kara swung at his arm only for him to move it just in time.

"No, you should feel so blessed that Kara and I pick you two to spend our days with," I said and Josh put his hand over his heart in honor. I laughed loudly and that was something I really liked about hanging out with Josh, his ability to make me laugh even when I'm having a bad day.

My night with them was uneventful but hilarious like it always is. I watched as Kara and Bryan attempted to make a pizza, but the only thing they managed to do was spill cheese all over and get sauce in Kara's hair. While I watched them and noticed that their chemistry for each other was so high I couldn't understand how it had not boiled over yet. Could I ever be like them? Falling for someone that would fall back with me?

"Are you busy next Friday?" Josh asked while Kara and Bryan were playfully arguing in the kitchen.

I shook my head, "Nope," I said popping the 'p' and Josh smiled.

"Do you want to go out," he paused, "with me?" he finished, his nervousness truly adorable.

Kara's words rung in my head as I contemplated what to say. I had fun with Josh and we got along well, what was wrong with going somewhere with him? I wasn't taken or committed to anyone, but Eli's name popped up in my head.

Eli had Caylee and I wouldn't be betraying him by going out with Josh. Eli didn't care for me like that and I didn't know if he ever would. Josh could be that one for me, the one that would actually return my feelings.

Everything will work out if it's meant to, but don't stop your life for him.

"I'd like that," I answered and I felt better, as if I was making steps in the right directions towards normalcy.

"It's a date," he replied with a smile. It's a date!